Automatic toilet-lock.



J. TAYLOR.

AUTOMATIC TOILET LOCK.

APPLICATION FILED' JULY 26. 1911. 1

1,292,146. Patented Jan. 21, 1919.

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J.- TAYLOR. I

AUTOMATIC TOILET LOCK.

- APPLICATION FILEDJULY 26.191].

1,292,146. Patented Jan. 21,1919.

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JOHN TAYLOR, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

AUTOMATIC TOILET-LOCK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 21, 1919.

Application filed July 26, 1917. Serial N 0. 182,882.

To (-76 whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN TAYLOR, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illmois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Toilet- Locks, of which the following is a specification.

The invention is particularly adapted to the toilets of railway cars, and has for its' train, for the convenience of passengers who may wish to retire.

According to the present invention, the toilet facilities are available for the use of passengers at all times, but the flushing of the toilet and the dumping of the contents to the ground is automatically restricted to such time as the train is moving at a predetermined rate of speed calculated to be that at which the train will have left the station and town.

I accomplish this result by providing dump pans in duplicate, the upper being at all times under the control of a manually operated handle while the lower pan, which controls the outlet from the bowl, can be operated only when the car is running. The .interspace between the dump pans provides for the retention and accumulation of magnetic connection. I also provide means,

utilizing the storage batteries of the lighting system, whereby the train porter is enabled to couple the two pans and effect the flushing of the toilet in case offailure of the generator or where other emergency may arise.

In order that the invention and the mannor of its operation may be readily understood, a preferred embodiment of the same is set forth in the accompanying drawing and in the following detailed description based thereon. Obviously many modifications of the particular operating and controlling means may be employed without departure from the spirit and essence of the invention as set forth in the appended claims, wherefore it is to be understood that the drawing and description' are to be taken in an illustrative and not in an unnecessarily limiting sense. In the drawing Figure 1 is a view of a toilet embodying this invention, shown partially in side elevation and partially in vertical section;

Fig. 2 is a similar view taken at right angles to Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail vertical section through the electro-magnetic coupling means; a

Fig. 4 is a similar view showing the parts in uncoupled relation; and a Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating the electric connection.

Having reference to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawing, the bowl of the toilet is indicated at 11 provided with a seat 12 and a cover 13. The interior of the bowl is divided by the wall 14 in two compartments, an upper one 15 and a lower one 16. The outlet from the upper compartment is controlled by the usual dump pan 17 having projecting therefrom a lever arm 18 connected by means of a link 19 to a second lever 20, to one arm of which is connected the operating rod 21.

The outlet from the lower compartment 16 is controlled by a second dump pan 22 similarly pivoted at 23 and provided with a projecting lever arm 24. The lever arm 18 has pivoted thereto at 25 a coupling member 26 to slide telescopically within the coupling member 27 which is pivoted to the lever arm 24 at 28. tion or coupling between the members 26 and 27 may be effected by means of the set screw 29 threaded in the boss 30 formed on the coupling member 27 and arranged to engage with its inner end-31 within a notch 32.

In order to provide for coupling and uncoupling the members 26 and 27 in the normal operation of the device, a box 33 is mounted upon the coupling member 27 and A permanent connecupon the wall of this box at 34 is pivoted a detent 35 the nose 36 of which is arranged to project through an opening in the coupling member 27 and to engage within a notch 37 of the coupling member 26. A leaf spring 38 attached to the detent 35 and bearin with its lower end against the wall of the ox or the member 27 serves to lightly hold the detent in engaging position as illustrated in Fig. 3. However, the rounded engagement of the nose of the detent with the notch of the coupling member 26 is such that the tension of the spring 38 is not of itself suflicient to hold the two in engagement but the upward movement of the coupling member 26 will ordinarily expel the nose 36 of the detent from the notch. A link 39 is pivoted at 40 to the detent at one side of its pivot point 34, the lower end of the link 39 overlying the armature 41 of the magnet 42, which armature is pivoted at 43 to the wall of the box. The magnet 42 is, supplied from the axle driven generator of the usual car lighting system, dlagrammatically illustrated at 44 in Fig. 4, said system including the usual automatic switch indicated at 45 and the hand switch indicated at 46; and also including the storage batteries 47 for supplying the lamps 48 when the car is at a stand still or running at a slow speed.

Assuming the hand switch to be in its normal position connecting the terminals 47 and 48 on the one hand and the terminals 49 and 50 on the other, the magnet 42 is not energized and the detent 36 is not held in position to couple the members 26 and 27 until sufficient current is generated by the increment of speed to close the automatic switch 45. Under such conditions, the car being at rest or running at aspeed below, say fifteen miles per hour, the lower dump pan 22 is not coupled with the upper dump. pan 17 and if the upper compartment 15 he flushed by the dumping of the pan 17 the contents of the compartment 15 will be deposited in the lower compartment 16 upon the pan 22, the coupling members 26 and 27 sliding loosely one within the other. If, however, the car reaches a speed of, say fifteen miles per hour, the output of the generator 44 will be sufficient to close the automatic switch 45 causing the current toflow through the magnet 42, and back to the generator, energizing the magnet 42 and lifting its armature 41 and,

by means of the link 37 forcing the nose 36 of the detent 35 into the notch 29 thereby effectually coupling the members 26 and 27 together. If now, the operating rod or handle 21 be lifted both the upper dump pan 17 and the lower dump pan 22 will be tilted, the members 26 and 27 forming for the time being a rigid connection between the two operating lever arms 18 and 24.

It will thus be seen that the coupling of the members 26 and 27 is entirely automatic and takes place only when the car has attained a speed of a predetermined number of miles per hour.

For emergency use, in case of failure of the generator, or the arising of other conditions making it desirable to dump the matter accumulated within the compartment 16, the train porter may throw the switch 46 to the opposite side so as to connect the terminal 48 with the terminal '51 and the terminal 50 with the terminal 52. The magnet 42 is thereb brought into circuit with the storage batterles 47, whereby it is energized and the detent 35 is caused to couple the members 26 and 27, whether the train be running at the predetermined speed or no.

I claim:

1. In a toilet forrailway cars, the combination with a bowl, the dump pan, and the handle for operating the same, of an auxiliary pan, and electromagnetic couplings between the two pans, a source of current supplied to the magnet, and means to control the flow of current whereby to connect and disconnect the pans and enable the upper pan to be operated jointly with or independently of the lower pan.

2. In a toilet for railway cars, the combination with a bowl, the (lump pan, and the handle for operating the same, of an auxiliary pan below the first pan, an electromagnetic coupling device between the two pans, a source of current to the magnet, and means to automatically control the flow of current whereby to connect and disconnect the pans and enable the upper pan to be operated jointly with or independently of the lower pan.

3. In a toilet for railway cars, the combination with a bowl, the dump pan, and the handle for operating the same, of a second pan disposed below the first pan and controlling the outlet from the bowl, a loose connection between the two pans, electromagnetic means for coupling the parts of the loose connection to form a fast connection, whereby the upper pan may be operated jointly with or independently of the lower pan.

4. In a toilet for railway cars, the combination with a bowl, the dump pan, and the handle for operating the same, of a second pan disposed below the first pan and controlling the outlet from the bowl, a loose connection between the two pans, electromagnetic means for coupling the parts of the loose connection to form a fast connection, whereby the upper pan may be operated jointly with or independently of the lower pan, said operating means comprising an electro-magnet, and an axle driven generator supplying the magnet, whereby the coupling of the two pans will be automatically effectuated as the speed of the train rises above a predetermined minimum.

prising an electro-magnet acting on the detent, and an axle driven generator supplying the magnet, whereby the two pans will be coupled and uncoupled automatically as the speed of the train rises above or falls below a predetermined rate.

6. In atoilet for railway cars, the combination with a bowl, a pivoted dump pan therein, an operating lever extending from the pan to the exterior of the bowl, of a second pan similarly mounted below the first pan and controlling the outlet to the bowl, an operating lever extending from the second an, telescopic coupling members one carried by each lever and arranged to slide freely, a detent arranged to connect the two telescopic members, an electro-magnet, a connectionbetween the magnet armature and the detent whereby as the armature is attracted by the magnet the detent will be caused to couple the said members, and an-axle driven generator supplying the magnet, whereby the two pans will be coupled and uncoupled automatically as the speed of the train rises above or falls below a predetermined rate.

7. In a toilet for railway cars, the combination with a bowl, a dump pan, and the handle for operating the same, of an aux iliary pan below the first pan, electro-magnetic coupling means between the two pans, an axle. driven generator for supplying the electro-magnetic means,- whereby the two pans will be coupled and uncoupled automatically as the speed of the train rises above or falls below a predetermined rate,

and emergency means for efiecting such coupling comprising storage batteries in cir cuit with the electro-magnetic means, and a switch in said circuit whereby in case of emergency the magnet may be energized to couple the pansindependently of the train speed.

8. In a toilet for railway cars, the combination .with a bowl, a pivoted dump pan therein, an operating lever extendin' from the pan to the exterior of the bow of a second pan similarly mounted below the first pan and controlling the outlet to the bowl,

an operating lever extending from the second pan, telescop1c coupling members one carried by each lever and arranged to slide switch in said circuit, whereby in case of emergency the magnet may be energized to couple the pans independently of the train s eed.

9. In a toilet for railway cars, the combination with the bowl, a pan controlling the outlet from the bowl, and manually operable normally uncoupled means to dump said pan, of means controlled by the trainspced to automatically couple the operating means whereby to enable the toilet to be flushed only when the train-speed reaches a predetermined minimum.

10. In a toilet for railway cars, the combination with the bowl, an axle driven electrio generator, and means controlled by the generator output enabling the flushing of the bowl only when the train speed exceeds a predetermined minimum.

11. In a toilet for railway cars, the com-- bination with the bowl, and manually operable means for flushing the same, of an electric'generator having a variable output dependent upon train speed, and means energized by said generator for rendering the manually operable means efiective only when the generator output exceeds a predetermined voltage.

12. In a toilet for railway cars, the combination with the bowl, the dump an, and the operating handle therefor, of an auxiliary pan, and means to automatically couple the two pans together for joint op pration when the train speed rises above a predetermined minimum rate and to uncouple the pans to render the auxiliary pan independent of the operation -of the first pan when the train speed falls below such predetermined rate.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAMEsMALoNE James F. AsKm, 

